Another path in life
by Ryuu Ken
Summary: A few days after Naruto had been born he was taken in by Jiraiya and raised by the Toad Sannin. Under the tutelage of Jiraiya, Naruto grows into a fine shinobi. Now, after twelve years he returns to the home of his father Konoha.
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

First time I've ever written a fanfic, so if you've got suggestion how I can improve my writing please tell me, I'd appreciate it greatly. Other than that, just speak you mind.

Chapter 1

"Target is in sight, Sakura confirm distance." The tone of Uchiha Sasuke was just like his personality, cold and devoid of emotions. The earpiece cackled briefly before his teammate responded.

"Target is estimated to be twelve meters from your position Sasuke" his teammate told him is a voice which she clearly believed was seductive, the only reaction the pink-haired kunoichi got was silence, as usual.

"Ma, Team 7…..Move out!" Their lazy leader, the legendary Copy Ninja Kakashi drawled.

"HAI!" came the answer of all three members.

Three black blurs streaked through the undergrowth making their way to an unsuspecting feline. A few seconds later an angry hiss signalled the capture of the cat. It had actually been the third time this week and the last member of team 7 was getting a little frustrated. Hyuuga Hanabi had not become a Genin just so she could go and capture cats. A smirk crossed her face as she recalled the exact reason she had become a Genin, quite a few years too early.

FLASHBACK

_Hanabi patiently waited for her father to enter the room. He had summoned her, it must be because she had beaten her older sister in a sparring match. The young Hyuuga's face twisted in contempt for her older sister, Hinata. She was weak, weaker than her and how many years younger was she?_

"_Hanabi, please pay attention." Hiashi curtly admonished her._

_Hanabi was shaken out of her thoughts and straightened her back, curious to what her father had to tell her._

"_Hanabi, you have proven to be worthy of the name Hyuuga by defeating your older sister."_

_Hanabi's heart filled with pride, she was a Hyuuga and had proved it._

"_And after witnessing the pitiful performance of Hinata, it has been decided by the Council and myself that you will join the Ninja Academy this year, so that you are able to take over the title of Heir quicker."_

_Hiashi paused, considering how much he should tell._

"_As you may know, the position of the Hyuuga is not very stable at the moment and it will take a strong Heir to successfully lead our Clan. Now, I expect you to give it your all and become strong."_

_Hanabi quickly bowed and left the room, a smirk struck on her face. She would be heir on day and not that pitiful sister of her._

END FLASHBACK

"-abi, are you coming?"

The question her sensei asked brought the Hyuuga girl back to the present rather quickly. Nodding her head, feeling too aloof to answer the girl strutted past a rather bored looking Kakashi. Said Jounin couldn't have cared less, he just pulled out his perverted book and began the long walk back to Konoha. His one eye carefully observed his pupils and their actions. It seemed that team 7 had fallen into their routine again. Sasuke was brooding, lost in thoughts while Sakura was trying to get him to notice her and was fawning over the raven-haired Uchiha while Hanabi…was being Hanabi. Aloof and cold she was the embodiment of Hyuuga and strongly reminded him of Hiashi before he fell in love. Sighing Kakashi wondered if his team would survive the Chuunin Exam, they didn't really seem a team to him.

_Not unlike our team eh Obito? Maybe some contact with the other teams will bring them a little closer together, a joined-mission perhaps?_

Musing on how to bring his team closer together the Jounin focused on his perverted novel again, whilst emitting a perverted chuckle.

_I wonder what Ayame will do when she discovers who her secret lover is_

"Team 7 reporting back Hokage-sama, mission success."

* * *

"Well done Kakashi, dismissed." The Hokage reclined in his chair, puffing from his pipe blowing out some smoke and reached for his own perverted book when a cough alerted him of the fact that Kakashi had not yet left his office. Cramming the perverted back into hidden drawer the Hokage put on his most grave voice and addressed the Ninja in front of him.

"Is there something that you wish to share with me Kakashi?" Sarutobi asked Kakashi while trying to glare the Jounin to death.

The Jounin gulped, it seemed he had interrupted the Hokage's reading session. Coming quickly to business, lest he be punished, Kakashi hurriedly explained

"You see Hokage-sama, I am concerned that this years Genin hardly know each other. If they are to take higher classed missions than they might have to work together and at this point, that is not possible."

"Point taken, what do you propose Kakashi?"

"A joined-mission where in this years Genin all participate to strengthen their bond."

The Hokage carefully considered the proposal, idly stroking his beard. After carefully thinking it over he decided to do it.

"Kakashi, round up Kurenai and Asuma. Tell them they are to participate in a C-classed mission together with your team. I will brief the tomorrow. Dismissed."

* * *

And that's how Kakashi found himself guarding Fire Country's border only a week later. Together with a lazy Nara, a stuttering Hyuuga and a silent Aburame the (in)famous Copy-cat found himself in the pouring rain, wishing that he had never suggested his idea to the old Hokage. Their mission was to prevent all unwanted nins from entering Fire Country. And it was the most boring thing that existed, all they had to do was guard a road and adjacent wood. It was not the dullness that Kakashi was complaining about, it was the rain the prevented him from reading his beloved Icha-Icha Paradise, his all-time favourite in perverted literature.

"Kakashi-sensei, someone is approaching our position"

Those were actually the first words the Aburame had spoken, which was the only reason that Kakashi even bothered looking at the incoming traveller. Beneath his mask, the Jounin smiled, the traveller was easily spotted; he was wearing an orange cloak making him light up like a beacon compared to all the dark colours of the forest around him. Top that of with the straw hat he was wearing he looked very out of place in this rainy forest.

_He would really make a bad ninja, that orange would get him killed within three seconds. I bet he's really loud and obnoxious as well. _The Jounin mused.

"W-what do we d-do K-kakashi-sensei?"

The stuttering Hyuuga brought Kakashi quickly back to the situation at hand. He carefully studied as the orange-clad figure passed his position. By the cart he was pulling Kakashi could tell he was a merchant or tradesman. The Jounin could sense close to no chakra coming from the man so he was no nin either. Just as Kakashi was about to let himself slide back into his state of apathy he sensed two chakra signatures heading towards them. Speaking into this earpiece the Jounin quickly gave out his orders whilst trying to remember the names of the Genin under his command.

"Two chakra signatures incoming. Shino, go and get Asuma with his team. Hinata, activate your Byakugan and tell me where they are heading."

A few handseals and a shy"Byakugan" later the shy Hyuuga relayed her information to Kakashi.

"T-they're m-m-mist-nins. B-but there's a-a scratch t-through their h-hitai-ate."

Kakashi's only visible eye widened in alarm. They were missin-nins? Traitorous ninja's that had betrayed their own Hidden Village. This was not looking very good. As a Jounin he was confident in his abilities to stop both of them but truth be told, he was too lazy to do so. And whether they were strong or not, missing-nins always were trouble.

"K-kakashi-sensei, h-here they a-are."

The two Mist nins had come into sight. They both looked eerily alike. Both were clad in tattered black cloaks with a weird mask over their face, only leaving their eyes visible. On their hand was a metal bracelet and each of their fingers were had a metal claw over it. As Kakashi prepared to attack them, both nins stopped. They turned to the orange-clad traveller, who Kakashi had forgotten existed, and bowed respectfully. The tallest of the two took a step forward and spoke.

"Greeting shounin-sama. We are the infamous Daemon Brothers, we would like to see what you have in stock, we also hope you have our order like agreed?"

The merchant lifted his straw hat revealing sky-blue eyes and a relatively young boy, Kakashi estimated he was only twelve years old. A small smile graced his lips as he answered the missin-nin.

"Of course I have your order, and please do not call me shounin-sama, makes me feel so old. Just call me Naruto, Uzumaki Naruto."

Author's note: Well that was it, nothing much has happened yet, this was more a prologue kind of thing. Next time we get to know the story behind Naruto and also we find out how the Genin react to this young traveller.

Until the next chapter.

P.S. Shounin means merchant, pretty simple not?


	2. Meet Uzumaki Naruto

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

Reviews:

**Dsecret:** According to my online dictionary shounin means merchant.

**naruhina1: **No this isn't yaoi although I'm not yet sure as to which pairings I'm going to use. And as for Hinata's stutter, don't forget that Naruto hasn't been around for her to spy on. It seemed in the anime as if Naruto really was an inspiration for her to stop being so shy.

**Gohen-fire: **I'm not yet sure on which pairings I'm going to use.

As for the rest of you, thanks for all the positive reviews, it really encouraged me to start writing up the next chapter.

* * *

Summary last chapter: 

Kakashi and the rest of the of Rook Genin are on border patrol when they encounter a young merchant by the name of Uzumaki Naruto, apparently on speaking terms with the infamous Daemon Brothers both missing-nins from the Hidden Mist Village.

* * *

"Of course I have your order, and please do not call me shounin-sama, makes me feel so old. Just call me Naruto, Uzumaki Naruto." The blond cheerfully told the duo of missing-nins. While he spoke he expertly folded his cart open, revealing numerous shelves with all kinds of goods and strange gadgets. Various spring-loaded items shot out of the cart, several posters giving information on which items had discount, a money till and last but not least a big sign with a red spiral on it and it read 'UZUMAKI NARUTO, SHOUNIN' in blue letters. 

The young merchant proudly gestured around whilst addressing the two ninja's in front of him. "Please feel free to browse around, as you can see the kunai's are on discount buy ten and get the eleventh for free." Though the blond seemed to be rummaging amongst the shelves, testing a few crossbows he was paying close attention to his two customers determined not to let them steal any of his merchandise.

While the two fearsome Daemon Brothers were out shopping, Shino returned with Asuma and his team of Genin; Yamanaka Ino, Nara Shikamaru and the plump Akimichi Chouji.

"Yo." Kakashi lazy welcomed the four ninja's. Pointing towards the strange stall with his orange book. "The two nins with slashed for-head are the Daemon Brothers and are shopping for supplies. The one in the orange coat is the shopkeeper, apparently his name is Uzumaki Naruto."

"Really? Uzumaki eh?" Asuma took the cigarette from his mouth and regretfully put it out. He hated wasting a good cigarette, but the smoke might be smelled by an enemy ninja and endangering his squad was not something he wished to do. "So what do you plan on doing Kakashi?"

The silver-haired Jounin thought about that question for a little while. Underneath him the two ninja's were bartering with the merchant, haggling over the price of the newest in ninja fashion. _I never expected the infamous Daemon Brothers to be so feminine, shopping and haggling over clothes._

Chuckling softly at his thought Kakashi motioned the other ninja's to wait, if the two missing-nins would cross the border then they probably would have to fight them. Kakashi went back to his book, trying to block out the haggling.

* * *

"It's a deal." Naruto finally conceded. _These two drive a hard bargain, we've haggling for the last thirty minutes. Only Haku takes longer to haggle and I'm sure he's gay. Hmmm makes you wonder. _The blond-haired merchant thought as he handed his customers their wares. In return he received two scrolls. Not looking he stuffed them both in his orange coat. "Please feel free to drop by any time." As the two nins disappeared out of sight, Naruto rummaged in the pockets of his cloak. "Where is it, not there. Damn that blasted thing. Ah here it is!" With a grin he extracted a for-head protector from his cloak. "Damn this is Mist, I'm looking for Sand. Nope, this Grass. Where is that Sand hitai-ate? Ah there it is! Finally." After pulling out the right for-head protector, Naruto quickly fastened it around right upper arm. As Naruto was about to close down his cart his 'tenant' decided to have a small chat with him. 

**How you doing Brat? Still as small as ever?**

_Fuzzy, what's up? How about we go and have a stroll in the park? Oh, that's right I forgot you're in a cage. Now isn't that a shame._

**As good mannered as ever I see, not now though. We're being watched.**

_Really? Thanks for the heads-up Furball._

**Anytime, and by the way did you know that orange is the new pink?**

Shaking his head at the usual banter he endured when talking to Kyuubi, Naruto thought about what he should do. Several plans flashed through his mind but he settled on the easiest. Taking of his straw hat the shounin spoke up. "Alright, I know you're out there, you can come out now."

This statement surprised Kakashi so much he nearly fell out of his tree. Composing himself quickly the Jounin jumped out of the tree, while motioning the rest of his squad to follow him. Slightly apprehensive of this strange merchant the five Genin readied themselves while the two Jounin keenly observed this stranger.

Hearing leaves rustle to his left, Naruto faced that direction. He saw seven ninja's, five were cautious and ready for surprises while the other two were just staring at him. Flashing his fox-grin he spoke up. "Heh, nice to know that I wasn't talking to air."

"What do you mean?" the silver-haired one asked. His silver hair seemed to defy gravity while his whole face was covered save for his right eye.

"Easy" Naruto replied as his fox-grin grew across his face. "I just guessed the borders would be guarded and tested my theory. I really had no idea if somebody was there."

Kakashi silently thanks the Kami for his mask because his face was flushed slightly pink in shame. _I've been tricked like I was some kind of Genin. Who is this guy?_

Unbeknownst to Kakashi the rest of the ninja had exactly the same though; _Who is this guy?_ As if sensing their unspoken question Naruto shifted back into merchant-mode. "Welcome to my humble enterprise. My name is Uzumaki Naruto, a shounin. I bring you the finest silk imported from Mist, the classiest pottery from Sand and the deadliest poisons from Grass. At the moment we have a special discount on kunai's; discount buy ten and get the eleventh for free."

Coming to his senses Kakashi pointedly at the hitai-ate the Uzumaki boy was wearing. "How come you've got so many of them? And why did you choose Sand?" The boy rolled his eyes at the question. It had been one of the things he learned when he had become a merchant. "It's really simple. Look, people buy more from you when you come from an exotic place. And since Leaf is allied with Sand I'm more likely to sell stuff when I'm from Sand."

Ino blinked at the explanation the blond gave while Shikamaru just sagely nodded. Finally finding back his voice Asuma said "But you can't just go and say you're a Genin. You have to have received proper training and learned the basics of chakra. And since you do not have a lot of chakra you cannot be a Genin." Feel proud at his comment, Asuma lit a cigarette in satisfaction.

Rolling his eyes Naruto answered the weird chain-smoker "You don't need any chakra to be a ninja. For once, I'll give a small demonstration. Most Genin teams are three-man teams right? Well bring me three Genin and I'll defeat them."

**You sure about that Brat? Without chakra even three can be an awful lot.**

_Aww, the great fuzzy wuzzy hairball cares! He really cares, now that warms my heart_

**Your funeral Kit, and call me fuzzy wuzzy again and I'll devour you while shredding your sole into little pieces.**

_Now that's the Kyuubi I know, I was wondering what had happened to the real Kyuubi._

Ending his insult-throwing spree against Kyuubi, Naruto pressed on. "Well, do you have three Genin for me to beat?" Shocked at the boy's confidence Asuma motioned his team to attack the blond boy. Seeing her sensei motion her to attack Ino leapt forward while introducing herself.

"My name is Yamanaka Ino, deadliest Kunoichi of all Konoha."

" Che, how troublesome. My name is Nara Shikamaru."

"And my name is Akamichi Chouji"

"And together we are the InoShikaCho Team!"

_What the? How retarded are these Konoha nins? _

**For once I agree with you Brat. This is just plain laughable.**

"Right, pleasure meeting you all." Naruto politely replied while trying to keep himself from laughing out loud. _Alright, so what did Uncle Ero-Sennin tell me about Konoha Bloodlines? The Yamanako's specialise in mind-control, the Nara's in shadow and…I can't remember what the Akamichi do. So the first one to go down is the blond girl, she yells too loud anyway. I pity her teammates._

Naruto shifted his foot, while rummaging in his pouch for. This action had several different reactions on the Genin in front of him. Ino quickly jumped back, launching into a set of handseals. Shikamaru reached for his kunai determined to protect Ino from any attacks. And Chouji just increased his rate of eating.

"Bring it on!" Naruto roared as he launched himself at Chouji while pulling a smoke bomb out of his pouch. With a POOF both Naruto and Chouji were shrouded in smoke. Ino paused in her jutsu because she did not have anyone to aim it at, while Shikamaru tensed. Both flinched when they heard the enraged voice of their third teammate. "You dirty thief! Give me back my snacks! NIKUDAN SENSHA NO JUTSU! (Meat Tank)

_Damn that fatso is fast, and scary when he's angry. He's scarier than you are Kyuubi when you're throwing a tantrum._

**I agr- I mean, no way I'm much more menacing than that rolling piece of fat.**

_Che troublesome, that smoke bomb obscures our vision making it impossible for us to do anything._ Shikamaru thought when suddenly he spotted a frantic Naruto with a snack bag under his arm running towards them. Closely on the blonde's heels followed an enraged Chouji in his Meat Tank jutsu. _Got you now_. Grinning Shikamaru threw a kunai towards Naruto only to see it pass straight through. _A bunshin? Shit, Chouji!_ "Chouji stop!" But it was too late. Before any of the three Genin could react Chouji crashed into Ino and Shikamaru.

Grinning fox-grin Naruto watched as Chouji shrunk to his normal form and the passed out from dizziness. The other two were already unconscious. Feeling satisfied the Kyuubi vessel ripped the bag open and started to munch on the snacks inside.

Kakashi once again found himself thanking the Kami for his mask. At this moment it prevented his jaw from hitting the floor, unlike that of Asuma. Giving the chain-smoking Jounin some time to recover, Kakashi studied the blond in front of him. _Hmmm…. he didn't any chakra, so how did he make that bunshin. Other than that his strategy is very impressive, but he must have known the Akamichi fighting style. Still, that was not bad._ The Jounin finished his analysis of the fight.

Having finished the snacks, Naruto crumpled the bag and stuffed it away. He chuckled slightly when he saw the still awe-struck Asuma, but quickly became serious when he saw the other Jounin staring intently at him. "You probably want to know how I made that bunshin right?" Not waiting for a reply Naruto went on while pulling a small slip of paper out of his pouch. "You have probably heard of summoning scrolls right? Add a little blood to the scrolls and you have an instant Jutsu. Now I modified this concept slightly." Naruto paused slightly to let the idea sink in, in the mean time the three Genin had woken up and were listening carefully, except for Chouji who was pouting about his stolen snack and was hurriedly consuming some more snacks.

"I see." Kakashi said. "I was wondering why those two missing-nins paid in scrolls." Nodding his head Naruto continued his explanation. "That's right. I carry a lot of scrolls with jutsus in the, enabling me to fight without chakra. This one here for example is a simple Bunshin no Justu, while the one the Daemon Brothers gave me is a Suirou no Jutsu (water prison)." Seeing Kakashi's surprised look Naruto just grinned. _Let him think on that the one-eyed weirdo._

**You said only one scroll Brat, yet the one-eye spoke of two scrolls.**

_That's right, the other scroll was information. Uncle Jiraiya will be happy with the information._

**Whatever shortie.**

Ignoring the Kyuubi Naruto started to collapse his cart, making it ready for travelling. Just as he was about to leave a hand on his shoulder stopped him. Sighing Naruto turned around. _Damn, and here I was hoping they would let me go._ "What is it that you want, it's illegal to stop allies from entering the border."

Kakashi chuckled and increased his grip on Naruto's shoulder. "Something tells me you're not a normal ninja. So you're coming with me." Sighing in exasperation, Naruto considered his options.

_What do you think Kyuubi, I could try and get of here but that would result in me burning off most of my scrolls._

**And since you were going to become a Konoha Ninja anyway it seems a little stupid to go blasting your future teammates into oblivion, although I would applaud such an action…**

Grinning at the fox's joke, Naruto made up his mind. "Alright, but I'm not leaving my cart so if you could please place your hands on the two circles." Kakashi hesitantly did so, the circles were part of a intricate design that, until now, Kakashi had assumed was for decoration only. After the Jounin had placed his hands on the circles, Naruto made a few handseals after which he slammed his hand on the smaller circle opposite those of Kakashi while muttering "Ultimate Henge no Jutsu". Kakashi felt a lurch as chakra poured from his hands into the circles. With a POOF the cart vanished leaving a heavy looking scroll. _Nice. This one is just as big as the one Ero-Sennin carries, only his is filled with all kinds of perverted books._

"Thanks for the chakra, I couldn't have done it without you." Naruto said while grinning fox-like. Strapping the scroll onto his back the former merchant waited for Asuma to recover from yet another mind-numbing surprise.

After Asuma had recovered he motioned towards the other two Genin that had stayed out of the fight. "Naruto, meet Hyuuga Hinata and Aburame Shino." Both Genin continued doing what they had been doing during the entire encounter; Shino just stood there, as impassive as a rock, while Hinata kept on blushing and poking her index fingers against each other.

_Okay what a bunch of weirdo's_ came to Naruto's mind as he observed the strange people in front of him. Unbeknownst to Naruto a certain demon fox was furiously nodding his head at that thought, agreeing with it entirely. "Well shall we go then?" Kakashi asked while making sure Naruto was following him.

* * *

"Yo." Kakashi lazily greeted Kurenai, it seemed he had slipped back into lazy-mode as the threat was over. "Kakashi, who is this?" _And why is he wearing orange, does he want to get killed or something? He is of the Sand, yet I cannot detect a lot of chakra in him. Strange._

"Kurenai, I'll introduce him but it would be quicker to do it in front of everybody." Kurenai nodded and vanished in a puff of smoke to go and get the other Genin. Once they were all present, Kakashi lazily pointed at Naruto while introducing him. "Ma, everybody this is Uzumaki Naruto, he is a merchant and a shinobi of the Sand Hidden Village. Naruto, I'd like you to meet Sarutobi Asuma" _A chain-smoker and he's easily surprised. _**I wonder if he's a pervert?**

"Yuuhei Kurenai" _Jiraiya better not see her or he'd never leave Konoha _**She seems a genjutsu or ninjutsu type, as she doesn't carry any weapons**

"Hyuuga Hinata" _She's shy isn't she? And she looks sunburned to me. _**Bwuahahahaha clueless as ever. **_eh? Whatever you stupid fox._

"Aburame Shino" _He looks as interesting as a rock. _**Don't forget, the more boring or foolish a ninja looks the more power he has. **_Yep, and that's why I wear this orange coat. _**No, that's because you are stupid and like eye-gouging colour.**

"Inuzuka Kiba" _He looks dog-like, is he from that dog-clan? _**Yes.**_ Good, then I finally get a chance to test my dog repellent._

"Yamanaka Ino" _She looks like she's more interested in hair-sprays than kunai and shurikens. Great, that means I can finally get rid of that batch of shampoo._** Have I ever told you that I hate blondes?**

"Nara Shikamaru" _Damn he looks bored. _**The more boring the more power.**

"Akamichi Chouji" _Kyuubi, if I ever try to steal food from this guy again then stop me please. _**My idea exactly, he's just plain scary when he's angry.**

"Hyuuga Hanabi" _Woah, what crawled up her ass and died? Kyuubi you didn't do what I think you did? _**I swear it wasn't me! I swear on your grave. **_I don't even have a grave furball. _**That can be arranged if you wish. **

"Haruno Sakura" _Looks like another empty-headed bimbo. Those are always great for business. _**Pink? Gah, it burns me. My EYES! THEY BURN! **_Stop howling like that you oversized…ehm you oversized fox!_**How original, what's the matter? Has your brain overloaded...again?**

"Uchiha Sasuke" _A prick if I've ever seen one. He looks kind of familiar. _**That would be a mirror you're looking at. **

"And finally me, Hatake Kakashi" _Wait, is he reading Icha Icha? He's a pervert! _**Hold on for a minute, I've run out of snide remarks to make. Damn.**

Snickering at the last comment the Kyuubi made Naruto flashed a smile the assembled ninja's. "Pleasure to meet you all."

* * *

Author's note: Phew, that fight really was more difficult than I expected. I hope it's a bit clear what happened. As for Naruto's past, I'll drop hints here and there but for the all revealing flashback you'll have to wait a few more chapters. Hope you liked this one. 

Until the next chapter

P.S. Akki, is this chapter long enough for you?


	3. A fight and meeting the Hokage

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

Reviews:

**Kitsune: **You are entitled to your opinion although I'm quite curious in which way this story is the same as all the other ones. And I never stated that Naruto can't use chakra ;).

**Anime-game freak:** No, Naruto does have chakra but at the moment he doesn't have a lot of it. All I can say is that more on this will be revealed in the upcoming chapters. And Naruto was talking about the stuck-up expression that Hanabi was wearing. Sorry it that was a bit unclear.

**Night-Owl123:** Naruto will know all of the moves he knew when before the Chuunin Exam (Sexy no Jutsu, Kage Bunshin etc.). He also knows some new moves due to his lack of chakra.

**Gohen-fire:** No, Naruto will have chakra later but just not now due to…..Not going to tell you, you'll just have to find out. :)

**Binnybobarion: **Aaah, that comment really freaked me out! You do realise that Hanabi is around Konohamaru's age, which is about 5 to 6 years younger than Naruto. The thought kind of makes me shudder.

**KyLewin:** (AN: Grins) Indeed, there's a pretty good reason. And I plan on have Kyuubi only commentating on Naruto's actions, not actually guide him like I've seen in some fics.

Whoah, that's a lot of questions. No, the mission the Genin are on is a C ranked mission. Read that in this chapter. Yes. No. The though had crossed my mind, I'm not yet sure what to do with the Haku/Zabuza fight.

**reader: **I'm not sure how it's done in the anime/manga but from what I saw in the Wave country was that Kakashi made handseals with the scroll in his hands. This led me to conclude that the scroll holds enough chakra for a certain technique, all you have to do is make the seals. I'm using the same method with all the scrolls Naruto uses.

**Firedude328, shina-lim, Bluestar123, joekool, Stonebridge, TenshiKaitou, nonengel, kae, Rock-fox:** Thanks!

* * *

Summary last chapter:

After the two missing-nins have left Naruto spars with Asuma's team where he wins relatively easy. Growing curious of the blond, Kakashi takes Naruto to the camp where he gets introduced to the Rookie Genin.

* * *

Snickering at the last comment the Kyuubi made Naruto flashed a smile to the assembled ninja's. "Pleasure to meet you all." Figuring he was finished with the obligatory greeting the young ninja slid the heavy scroll of his back. While the Genin slowly dispersed, going back to their business, Kurenai made her way towards Naruto. She had seen Hinata's blush, and figured she might as well see what kind of person this mysterious boy was.

"My name is Yuuhei Kurenai. It's a pleasure to meet you Uzumaki Naruto."

"I already know your name Yuuhei-sama." Shooting a glance at the Jounin, Naruto smirked. "So you are the one that drew the shortest straw?"

Kurenai blinked in surprise. "What?" A sigh escaped the ninja as he turned to face her, his blue eyes were guarded yet shined a little with mirth. "It's quite easy to figure that you Jounin would like to know as much as you can about me. So you send in someone to have a pleasant chat with me. What were you going to do? Seduce me?"

A chuckle escaped the blond boy while Kurenai struggled to keep herself from blushing. From a distance Kakashi was closely watching the conversation between Naruto and Kurenai. The Copy-Cat wasn't quite sure about the blond boy, something seemed a little strange about him.

_I'll just be honest with him_ Kurenai thought. "I assure you that I was not sent by Kakashi or Asuma. I just did not want to endanger my students."

At this statement Naruto looked up. Seeing the truth in the her face he nodded. "I do not speak freely of my past Yuuhei-sama. But I can promise you that I will not harm your students in any way." Smiling Naruto proudly added, "And that my Nindo way."

_Hinata, you have chosen a good person to have a crush on. I wish you luck._

Sensing the conversation was over, Naruto turned to his scroll. While muttering some curses about a 'perverted hermit' the blond launched into a number of seals. This attracted the attention of the three Jounin.

_What is he doing? He doesn't have enough chakra to do any jutsus._ Kakashi though as he narrowed his one visible eye.

Finishing with a ram seal, Naruto muttered a low "Kai". For a few moments not much happened. Just as Kakashi thought it was all a fluke the scroll vanished in a large puff of smoke that completely obscured Naruto. _Impossible, that feeling…it's _my _chakra that he's using. How? Of course, this kid is smart._

_FLASHBACK _

"_Alright, but I'm not leaving my cart so if you could please place your hands on the two circles." Kakashi hesitantly did so, the circles were part of an intricate design that, until now, Kakashi had assumed was for decoration only. After the Jounin had placed his hands on the circles, Naruto made a few handseals after which he slammed his hand on the smaller circle opposite those of Kakashi while muttering "Ultimate Henge no Jutsu". Kakashi felt a lurch as chakra poured from his hands into the circles. With a POOF the cart vanished leaving a heavy looking scroll._

END FLASHBACK

_I see, he stored up my chakra. Pretty nifty_ Kakashi admitted as the smoke started to clear. The silver-haired Jounin grinned as coughing sounds reached his ears.

Gasping for air Naruto stumbled away from the scroll. _Too much smoke, next time I should use less chakra_. Waving away the last of the smoke he proudly admired his handiwork.

**Kit, the smoker has dropped his cigarette _again_. Are you sure he's a Jounin?**

Not paying attention to what Kyuubi was saying Naruto took of his orange cloak and carefully folded it.

Kurenai resisted the temptation to rub her eyes. The scroll had vanished, to be replaced by a hammock, hanging off two trees that weren't there earlier and a _dressing booth_? Asuma couldn't believe his eyes and for the third time that day, he had wasted a cigarette. _Darn that brat, in this rate I'm going to run out of them_. And as for Kakashi, he was on his knees, thanking the Kami with all his might for the discovery of masks that prevented his jaw from hitting the ground.

Whistling a merry tune, Naruto entered the booth. After five minutes or so the ninja left the booth, now completely in a different outfit. Gone was the straw hatand orange cloak. He now wore black baggy pants with plenty pockets for his scrolls. His shirt was also black but had a red swirl on it and his unruly blond hair was forced into place by a black bandana, which bore the kanji for luck. He looked like a ninja and certainly walked like one. The only strange thing was that his kunai holster was replaced with a holder for cards.

"Naruto no Shounin is no more. Meet the new and improved Naruto no Ninja." The blond proudly stated.

Kakashi was about to ask Naruto how the scroll worked when he suddenly felt two chakra signatures approach their position. They were not trying to hide their approach so everybody, including the Genin, sensed them.

Without a word Naruto took off, adrenalinecoursing through his veins. Reluctant, Kakashi pursued after the blond with Shino, Kiba, Sasuke and Shikamaru in his wake. The rest he had ordered to stay behind.

_So who do you think are coming for me this time?_

**I bet it's the clan where you peeked on the heiress.**

_Nah, we beat them last month. They won't be sending anybody for a while._

**I'm almost sure. After all, you _do_ know about their custom right? **The fox was practically glowing with glee. His vessel was quite amusing.

_How was I supposed to know of their stupid rule that he who had seen the heiress naked must marry her. _Naruto whined. _I'm much to young to get married. Although she was rather good looking_ he mused.

**Focus brat, they're coming.**

Snapping out of his rather pleasant thoughts Naruto readied himself for battle as his opponents dropped out of the tree they were hiding in.

**I was right brat** the Kyuubi chuckled.

Sighing exasperated Naruto tried to reason with the two in front of him. "Look, I'm really sorry but I didn't know about your stupid rule."

"Too late, you have disgraced the our clan and now you must die." The weaker of the two yelled. He was wearing a light blue kimono with a far too big sword on his back. Naruto doubted if he had ever seen any combat. The other however looked like a handful. He wore a dark green kimono that allowed him to blend into the surroundings rather easy. His kunai holster cautioned Naruto not to underestimate this man.

Reaching for his pouch, Naruto told the just arrived Leaf Shinobi "Please stay out of this, they have business with and me alone." Not waiting for the reply Naruto withdrew his hand and smiled predatorily. He opened his hand to reveal that he was holding two dice.

This made the one in the blue kimono laugh arrogantly. "You will not defeat me. For I am Adaha, one of the most powerful within our clan!"

Trying not to sigh, Kakashi raised an eyebrow at the confident smirk Naruto had on his face. _Dice? What's the catch here?_

The only reaction Adaha got from Naruto was a confident smirk. _All right, let's get this show on the road, I want to get some sleep._

Throwing the dice Naruto crossed his arms. After glancing at the number of eyes he had thrown the blond shouted "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

With a puff of smoke the dice made place for five clones. _Hmmm, considering six is average I'd say it wasn't that a good throw._ Shrugging, Naruto rummaged around in his pouch. With a nod towards the more dangerous Naruto signals his clones to attack the ninja.

Turning towards Adaha, he started taunting the man. "You know it would only take me one move to take you? You're just pathetic."

Adaha just had enough of the brat. Howling in rage he pulled in sword and charged towards the smirking ninja. He managed to bridge the distance to the blond relatively quickly and made a swipe to Naruto's legs which said ninja dodged with a simple jump to Adaha's right. Adaha used the momentum of his swing to bring down on the prone Naruto. The swordsman couldn't contain his glee when his blade cut through the ninja, only to have the form disappear in a cloud of smoke.

Grinning, Naruto fished out a small slip of paper. He swiped a little blood over it as his Bunshin disappeared. Quickly forming a ram seal he shouted "Sexy no Jutsu!"

Adaha heard Naruto shouting out his and cautiously circled the cloud of smoke when suddenly a beautiful and rather naked girl emerged. The girl giggled and seductively waved at Adaha. That was all it took and the sword-bearer flew backwards, propelled by the huge amounts of blood that were pouring out of his nose.

Grinning Naruto dispelled the Henge, and glanced at how his audience had reacted. _Hmmm, the pervert is just reading his book and the dog-boy seems rather passed out. The Nara is already back on his feet and my Jutsu doesn't seem to have affected the Uchiha._

**I bet he's gay. Even Jiraiya reacted to your Jutsu and he's seen a lot. Maybe you two _do _have something in common brat.**

Turning towards his second opponent, Naruto was rather surprised to see that all his clones had already been defeated. _Not bad. This guy seems worth my time._ Naruto mused as he keenly observed the man. "My name is Uzumaki Naruto, what shall I call you?"

The man smirked and simply threw a kunai towards Naruto. "I do not talk, let us fight instead." Sighing Naruto caught the kunai. _And for a moment there I actually thought he was cool._ A sizzling sound caught the blond's attention. Naruto's eyes widened _an exploding tag? Shit! _Hoping he wasn't too late he threw kunai away.

The nameless fighter was using Naruto's distraction to launch a salvo of shurikens at his opponent, resulting in Naruto performing some spectacular acrobatics as he dodged all the incoming metal. A small part of his mind was wondering why the tag hadn't gone off yet, while he was busy dodging more kunai's with tags attached to them.

The green-clad fighter finally stopped after having shot over a dozen of kunai's. A small chuckle escaped his lips, "You have fallen into my trap Uzumaki Naruto. Look around you. You are completely surrounded by my exploding kunai's. And now, prepare to die!" Smirking the fighter formed a quick seal and roared, "Exploding Kunai no Jutsu!"

With a deafening bang the trap went off, blasting Naruto clean off his feet.

_Hn, there's no way that dobe survived that blast. Serves him right, he never should have become a ninja. _Sasuke smirked, it was now his turn to deal with this fighter. He would show what an Uchiha could do.

"Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu" A large fireball struck Naruto's opponent squarely in his chest, sending him crashing to the ground. "Heh, you didn't think you'd get that easily did you?" a slightly singed Naruto asked. His hands were in the tiger seal with a scroll wrapped around them. Not wanting to give his opponent any time to get his wit together, the blond ninja quickly drew six cards from his holster. He held them as if they were shurikens, and without hesitation he let the fly. The six cards sped to their target and impacted with soft thuds.

A whizzing sound followed as the strings that were attached to the cards drew tight, effectively pinning the immobile fighter to the ground, three cards on each side of his body. "You might want to know that those cards are chakra enhanced and that string is razor-sharp and as durable as metal. Enjoy your stay, "Naruto chuckled, "because you're going to stay there for quite a while."

* * *

"So what happened back there Kakashi?" a curious Kurenai asked. It had been a few hours since a singed Naruto, apathetic Shikamaru, bored Kakashi and pissed Sasuke had returned to the camp. Asuma too was quite curious what had happened.

"Ma, it seems Naruto has insulted some clan and they came looking for revenge. So Naruto beat both of them." _I really liked that Sexy no Jutsu. _"Naturally that didn't sit very well with Sasuke." Shrugging the Copy-Cat went back to his 'literature'.

Kurenai just observed the young shinobi that now seemed to be in an argument with Kiba, with most of the other Genin laughing at the insults they were throwing at each other. Asuma followed her gaze and spoke her thoughts out loud, "Funny, until now the Genin mostly kept to their own teams but with him here they are interacting more with each other."

* * *

The Hokage sternly gazed upon the assembled Jounin and Genin, their C ranked mission was finally over. Puffing at his pipe, he read the report Kakashi had presented. After skimming it over he put it aside. "Congratulations, for now go home to your families. Tomorrow I expect you all to on duty again. Dismissed." The group chorused a "Hai, Hokage-sama" and left.

After the last one had exited, Sarutobi called for his assistant, Ebisu. "Ebisu, can you please let the young man that is waiting enter?" As Naruto carefully entered the room, the Hokage felt his heart skip a beat. _Arashi, he looks just like you!_

"Greeting Hokage-sama, I bring you the greetings of Jiraiya and Tsunade. They wish you well and promise to come and visit you in the near future." Sarutobi smiled at this news, his students hadn't visited him for a long time. "No need to be so polite Naruto, please take seat." The Third observed Naruto as he took a seat before asking the blond a question. "No doubt Jiraiya sent you here, why?"

_Ero-Sennin told me the old geezer would be to the point._ Naruto chuckled. "I suspect he wanted to get rid of me so he could get on with his 'information gathering'. But he also wanted me to learn people of my own age. And I also came here because I wanted to find an answer to question that has plagued me for a long time." Seeing the questioning look in the Third's eyes, Naruto sighed and spoke on, "I want to know what is so great about Konoha that my father sacrificed his life for it."

_I see. But can he be a shinobi? _Speaking out loud, the Third brought up one of his worries. "I see, but according to Kakashi's report you cannot use any chakra and rely on scrolls to survive."

Naruto laughed and smiled for the first time he entered the office. "Kyuubi and me made a deal. The seal allows me to absorb the furball's chakra but it's too violent, too demonic for me to use safely. It would damage my organs and cells. So we let it mingle with my own chakra, thus making it safe for me to use. In return I let the fox share in my senses, he sees what I see, tastes what I see and so on." Pausing slightly to let everything sink in Naruto continued, "The drawback of this is that it takes a long time for our chakras to mingle."

Sarutobi nodded sagely, it was making sense. "So where is your chakra now then?" A fox-grin spread over Naruto's face as he rolled up his sleeve. Suddenly a complicated and rather intricate tattoo became visible; nine tails wrapped themselves around Naruto's left arm. "This is a seal where most of my mingled chakra is stored away. It still needs to adjust to my body though, the fox's inner coils are much larger than mine."

Nodding once more the Hokage came to a conclusion. "I will make you a Genin. As all the teams are already formed, you will be added to the different teams when they are in need of another Genin. Understood?" Tipping his hat to cover his eyes, the Third went on. "I am afraid that I must inform the Council of your return. I fear they might insist on alerting the adult population of your return and what you carry inside of you."

Naruto nodded, he had expected this. He stood up from his seat, blue eyes blazing with an inner fire, unknowingly resembling the Fourth more than ever. "Agreed, but in return I demand that I gain access to the Uzumaki residence and become Clan Head." Crossing his arms, Naruto gazed at the fourth stone head of the monument, set aflame in the setting sun. "I plan on doing my family proud."

Smiling from under his hat, Sarutobi merely nodded. As Naruto left the office, the old man also looked at the monument. _My old friend, your legacy lives on and he shines just as bright as you did._

* * *

Author's Note: Well, Naruto's chakra mystery has been revealed and he got into a fight. I'm quite curious if you thought it was a bit clear, it was tougher than I thought. Next time, Naruto starts training and gets introduced to Gai and his team! 

Until the next chapter.

**Jutsu list**

Ultimate Henge no Jutsu – A jutsu where Naruto transforms an object he pulled out of the scroll back into the scroll

Sexy no Jutsu – If you don't know this one, then you don't know the series.

Exploding Kunai no Jutsu – Sets off any number of exploding tags.

Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu – By gahtering chakra in your throat you can 'spit' out a giant fireball.


	4. Uzumaki Mansion

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

A/N:

Hello people, it's good to be writing again. The reason I've been so inactive was not because of a writers block or something like that but because I had fallen ill. This disease made me very tired and sapped away all my energy making it very difficult for my body to fight the disease. Naturally, it took a while for me to recover. But I'm back now. Can't say how quick and how often I'll update 'cause I have school as well but rest assured that I'm writing again. Enough of this, let's get back to the story.

And thanks for the reviews, it really kept me going on my rainy days so to speak.

* * *

Reviews:

**Shadow Faith:** Nice to know you like it.

**Binnybobarino: **About melting Hanabi's cold heart, well I might get Naruto to make her less frozen but I'm afraid there will be no Naruto/Hanabi romance in this story.

**kd8gun:** Yes rest assured, Kyuubi was kidding about Naruto being gay.

**GenialHinata: **In this chapter I'll explain the background of the tattoo.

**nonengel:** I think I'll have Naruto without chakra till the Chuunin Exams. You'll see my idea's of the Uzumaki Residence in this chapter.

**mrasdfghj: **Sorry, but Naruto will not have a special Bloodline in this fic.

**smily:** Thanks, but Naruto will not know many Jutsu's, he's more specialised in unorthodox manners of fighting his opponents.

**TenshiKaitou:** (hastily bows and starts typing) Glad you liked it.

**Firehedgehog:** As my Lord commands (smirks and starts on the story)

**wolvesm0on:** Thanks, I also like your stories a lot.

**ranma hibiki: **I am considering writing the adventures of Naruto as a merchant but I want to finish one of my standing fics first before starting on another.

**Fic Slayr: **Naruto has been trained as ninja but travels around as merchant. He won't have chakra for quite some time.

**neko-leaf: **Reading back it indeed was quite abrupt, I'll try to avoid that in future chapters. Thanks for the criticism though.

**Night-Owl123, Crazy Mishka, jpthug12, draconous, Ibozun:** Will do.

**Dsecret, insanechildfanfic, tiggra, antiassissinguy: **Thnx!

* * *

Summary last chapter:

Naruto gets instated as Genin in the village of Konoha. He also claims his rightfull title as Head of his Clan and the Uzumaki Residence.

Whistling a tune a certain blond made his way through the streets of Konoha. Naruto preferred to know the city street-wise, a certain trait he had picked up in his younger years. Carefully committing the streets to memory, it was not long before Naruto found himself in front of a dingy looking ramen stand. Carefully looking around to make sure he was not being followed, the young Shinobi entered the stand.

* * *

"Ohayo! One bowl of your finest ramen, preferably Miso if you can handle it." Ignoring the girl that was serving the ramen, Naruto focused on the old chef that was also staring back at him.

"Take away?" the chef asked, still not blinking his eyes. Smirking, Naruto replied. "A shinobi always look underneath the underneath, I'll take it away."

Breaking into a smile the chef quickly threw some ramen together and threw it into a bag. And, unseen by the other guests, the chef managed to slip a scroll in as well.

Taking the bag, Naruto threw some money on the table and left. Just as he left, the new Leaf-shinobi barely managed to hear the parting words the chef spoke. "Welcome home, Uzumaki-sama."

* * *

Having obtained dinner and a plan of the city, Naruto took to the roofs and headed for the North Gate. Just as the gate came into view, the Kyuubi vessel veered slightly of course and headed for a small cluster of trees.

Landing with a small crouch, Naruto took his time to look around. At first it seemed as if the trees were just that, a cluster of trees. Yet, after having taken the time to study them, Naruto came to the conclusion that they were placed in a swirl, which happened to be the crest of his Clan.

"Ero-Sannin _was_ right. The Mansion is here. Now all I have to do is…"

FLASHBACK

"_Now listen up Naruto." The Toad-Sannin was rather serious, intent on passing some knowledge onto the young Uzuzmaki. "Your ancestral mansion is protected by a Genjutsu, making it invisible. In addition to that, the Mansion is…one could say the Mansion is sentient._

_Seeing the disbelieving face of his charge, the Sannin sighed, sat down and told Naruto the tale of the Uzumaki's._

"_It was during the reign of the Nidaime Hokage. Shortly after he had become Hokage, a small clan arrived at the gated of Konoha. No one knows where they came from, but everybody agreed on one thing; they were masters of chakra. They did things with it that other shibobi's would never even dream of. They wanted to become Leaf shinobi's and were found worthy of the honour. Thus, the Uzumaki came to Konoha. _

_They lived in the Mansion, a house fit for the shinobi they were and still are. But you find out for yourselves." Jiraiya's face now hardened as he came down to business_

"_Every of your ancestors put a part of chakar, and thus a part of themselves, into the house. This resulted in some peculiar events. In short, the house seems to be sentient. It resets traps, ambushes it's occupants and hones their reflexes. I believe the Uzumaki Mansion is also known as 'The Haunted House.' Rather corny is you ask me._

_So what you will need to do is cancel the Genjutsu on the Mansion and then revive the Mansion, as it has been sleeping since the Godaime died. The jutsu you will be using uses you blood instead of your chakra so it'll be no problem for you. These are the seals"_

END FLASHBACK

Thinking back for a moment, Naruto then proceeded bite his thumb and paint a swirl on all of the trees. Standing in the centre of the trees, Naruto formed several seals, ending with the dog seal. "Kai! Seal of the Revival, activate!"

A deep rumbling started from deep down, making the trees shake as if a giant invisible hand was rattling them. Praying to any Kami that would hear him, Naruto hoped he hadn't made a mistake in the seals. Slowly a trapdoor appeared in the centre of the cluster of trees.

When the last of the tremours had subsided the Kyuubi carrier cautiously made his way to the trapdoor. Just as he was about to open the door a kunai came wizzing out of nowhere, forcing Naruto into a spectaculair dive in order to avoid getting impaled.

Hahahaha, this is very entertaining. Somebody please pass me the popcorn, can't wait to see what happens next.

_Shut it, you stupid furball. What do you mean with next time?_

**Your pathetic pea-brain already stopped working** the Kyuubi snorted while munchin on his popcorn. **Remember what the Toad-Sannin said, it's a haunted house.**

Surpressing the urge to smack himself, Naruto once again cautiosly made another attempt to open the door. Now fully aware of his surroundings Naruto's hand made contact with the door. Feeling like a deer in headlights the ninja looked around him, ready for anything. Yet, nothing happened.

…**Hmm, that was rather disappointing. **A rather saddened Kyuubi made himself known. Ignoring the fox, Naruto just opened the door and blinked. And blinked again. What met his eyes was not the glorious Uzumaki Mansion but a bed in a small ill-lit room.

It was not untill Naruto had carefully examined the room that he found several tightly sealed doors. Shrugging the young ninja vowed that he would solve that mystery another time.

After making himself comfortable, Naruto reached into one of his pockets and pulled out the scroll the old man had given him. "Let's see what has happened in Konoha since the last time I was here."

Eating his ramen, the young Uzumaki continued to read is spies report and learn more about the home of his ancestors.

* * *

Dawn found Uzumaki Naruto comfortably asleep, but not for long. Naruto was sleepy, and very determined to ignore the sun and it's rays. In an attempt to block them out, the Uzumaki heir simply pulled his blanket over his head and tried to regain his lost sleep.

Alas, it was not to be. The only warning Naruto got was the turning of gears before his bed his disappeared underneath him and he was falling down some kind of a slide. Ignoring the raucious laughter of the fox sealed in him, Naruto looked up to see his bed slide back in it's former postion over the pitfall before Naruto was carried away.

After a truly dizzy making ride Naruto finally found a light at the end of the tunnel and…

TBC 

Apologies for the cliffhanger, I'll update soon. Just wanted to get this chapter out, and start writing it again. You won't be hanging long though, I'm planning on finishing it this evening. Untill then.

Ja ne!


	5. New path in life

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

Summary: Naruto has discovered that his ancestral home has a will of it's own and a sense of humour as well. Because of Naruto's laziness we now find him riding a tunnel that started under his bed.

* * *

With the his ears still ringing from Kyubi's laughter and his injuries still nagging Naruto vowed he would never again try to sleep in his own house again. While heading towards the Hokage Tower as he had been told to do, the Uzumaki's thoughts went back to earlier this morning.

_FLASHBACK_

_Glad to see the end of the tunnel approaching, Naruto was very surprised when he suddenly found himself airborne. Blinded by the sunlight, Naruto couldn't prevent himself from land heavily hitting the ground, tasting sand._

_Shaking his head, trying to get the sand out of his mouth, it was not untill Naruto heard a dull thud that the Kyuubi carrier froze and became aware of his surroundings._

_To his right was a large wooden fence with circles painted on it and several kunai stuck in those circles. Not daring to look to his left, Naruto quickly glanced wary of what he would find._

_What he saw was a group of kids, not older than 10, with sharp kunais which glinted menacingly in the sunlight. Seeing their surprised faces turn to glee and then to a dangerous kind of glee, Naruto jumped to his feet and ran for his life. Within mere heartbeats the horde of children pursued Naruto whilst continuing their moving target practice._

_END FLASHBACK_

Wondering if all children in Konoha were deadly, Naruto once more rubbed his poor behind that had suffered greatly from his impromptu dodging exercise. Arriving at his destination, Naruto once more inspected his clothing. Because he was forced to leave his scroll behind when he was so roughly awakened, Naruto had to find different clothes. Unfortunately, the only thing he could find where these orange training suits. The old lady from the shop wouldn't sell anything else to Naruto.

Wondering if it was because he was the Kyuubi carrier or because he was clad in his pyjamas at the time, Naruto opened the door to the Hokage's office. Nodding respectfully to Sarutobi, Naruto took a seat, waiting for the old man to start talking.

Sarutobi took one last puff of his pipe and the glanced at the papers in front of him. Sharply glancing at the shinobi in front of him, the Third Hokage decided he would be open with the boy.

"Why did you receive a scroll from old man Ichiruka yesterday?" The question was asked casual, but Naruto knew the man was observing him, noting his reactions. Trying to keep his face straight, Naruto's mind raced through his options.

"Why do you ask?" Naruto asked, trying to gain more time. The Third raised an eyebrow, motioning the blonde ninja to answer the question.

Seeing no other way out, Naruto opted for the truth. "Alright then, the old man is part of my personal spy network and keeps tabs on what is happening in Konoha." Seeing the surprised face of Sarutobi, Naruto sarcastically added, "You can't serious expect Jiraiya to be the only one with enough talent to set up a network."

Realising his pipe had almost died out, the old man quickly puffed it back to life. His old mind was racing like mad, he saw a golden opportunity. Swiftly making up his mind, Sarutobi spoke up.

"The council has decided that the merging of your chakra with that of the Kyuubi is to dangerous and might be a danger to the people of Konoha, therefore you are ordered to desist in you attempt." Seeing the dismayed look Naruto's face, Sarutobi's look softened. "It went against my will, but the Hokage alone is not powerful enough to stop the entire village council. I am sorry."

Sensing the authenticity of Sarutobi's words, Naruto nodded and waited for the old man to continue speaking.

"You have managed to set up a spy network, under my nose and without any of our interrogation officers knowing. That alone speaks highly of your skills." Leaning forward in his chair, Sarutobi locked eyes with the boy in front of him. "Naruto, I want you to expand your network, be my eyes and ears. Warn Konoha of danger and deceit. As you know, Jiraiya's network focuses heavily on Orochimaru and other large dangers to our village. I want your network to be closer to the ground. Search for spies, missing nins or other factors that might cost the lives of our ninjas. Will you do that for me?"

Feigning deep thought, Naruto spoke with his tenant.

_So what do you think fox? Are we going to do this?_

**Bah, whatever. As long as we get some action. Too bad that we have to put the merging on hold.**

_I think that as long as we don't pose a threat to the inhabitant of Konoha we're in a loophole. But I agree that we'll stop for the moment. If we're going to do this I will be needing chakra._

**Interesting though brat. Fine then, I'll halt the merging. Go tell the old man you'll do it.**

Ending his conversation with the fox, Naruto nodded once agreeing with the old man's plan. "I'll be needing some funds of course, and the appropriate rank to be able to make some trips in order to set up the network."

"Of course you'll be funded but you'll have to come here once every two weeks to explain what you're using the money for. As for rank, you'll have to participate in the Chuunin Exam for that. As you don't have a team leader, you're free to go where you want."

Slightly disappointed that the old man didn't fall for his lame excuse and promote him, Naruto agreed to the conditions. With his mind already in a higher gear, Naruto left the office to make some preparations.

* * *

Feeling rather weird after Naruto could use chakra for the first time in four years. One the one hand it was rather nice to be able to use his own chakra instead of stealing it from other people, on the other hand it was quite disappointing that the merging of chakra with Kyuubi wouldn't continue…for now.

Having finished packing his bag, Naruto was about to leave the mansion when he suddenly was forced to duck. A throwing star had hit the place where Naruto's head had been a mere second ago. Grabbing the star and returning to where it had come from, Naruto was satisfied when the star impacted in the bulls eye.

During his stay at the Uzumaki Mansion, Naruto had learned that the house was training him to expect the unexpected and sprung surprise attacks on him and kept on attacking him until the young shinobi returned fire and hit the bulls eye.

Before he left for the Hokage's office, Naruto activated the genjutsu and the trapdoor disappeared from sight. After that Naruto sped away, using several shortcuts through the poorer district of Konoha, narrowly avoiding getting hit by a cart full of melons.

* * *

Sarutobi was busy with reading a report that Ibiki had sent him when the door opened and Naruto sneaked inside. "I didn't hear you coming Naruto. You must've sneaked around my secretary. Already in the role of spymaster?" Sarutobi informed with a small smile.

Grinning fox-like, Naruto dodged the answer by taking a seat. Declining some tea, the Kyuubi carrier came straight to business. "I'll be needing a cover to head towards Tea Country. Best thing would be a Genin team or something like that."

Whilst the Third was checking the team rosters and the available assignments, Naruto discretely shuffled his deck of cards and absently made them jump from his right hand to his left and back again. Sarutobi talking to him snapped him out of his thougths.

"Hmm, there is a team going Tea Country. They are sent to repair the roof of one of the teahouses. It is classed as a C-rank mission because of the travel to another country. I'll add you to the roster. You'll be meeting them at the West Gate in three hours."

Seeing their meeting was over, both ninjas said their goodbyes and Naruto left, he still had some business to attend to.

The old man from Ichiruka's was currently rather absent. He had received a visit from the blonde shinobi for whom he collected information, Uzumaki Naruto. It seemed that he had done his work so well that he had to continue his efforts. Just then two ninjas stepped inside, one was criticising the other because of his lack of loyalty to the Hokage and Konoha. Unaware of the old man they continued their discussion in hushed voices.

Whilst giving the ramen another good stir, the old man carefully remembered their words and their appearances. He would add it to his weekly report.

* * *

Utterly and completely bored out of his skull, Naruto trudged along on the road towards Tea Country. The genin team he was walking with were some really strange people in his opinion. They called themselves Team Gai, but Naruto had not really paid them enough attention to know why. All he knew was that the team consisted of two, green-clad weirdo's, a rather stoic Hyuuga and a brown-haired girl with buns.

**Snap out of it brat, if you value your life. I'm getting tired of saving your sorry ass every time. Large group of bandits, twelve o' clock.**

The rough voice of the demon fox was a quick way to bring Naruto down to earth. He had long learned to rely on the demon's superior senses when they were in foreign territory.

_Let's see if my training has paid off._ Not bothering to warn his teammates, Naruto swiftly reached for his holster with cards. To the untrained eye it seemed as if the blonde merely brushed past the cards but a very attentive person would have spotted the five cards Naruto now held in his hand.

Spreading them open like a fan, Naruto kept one eye on his cards and the other on his surroundings. _Hmm, one pair of sevens, a three, a five and a king._

By now the Hyuuga had sensed something and calmly activated his Byakugan which alerted the rest of his team.

Tuning out the screams the thick eye-browed men uttered, Naruto calmly stated, "I'll take three." And in an almost casual way Naruto threw the cards into the woods.

As a weapon mistress, TenTen watched with interest at the projectiles the short blonde boy had thrown. Although they were simple playing cards they were aerodynamic and rotated with the same speed as a simple throwing star. She could hear soft thuds when the cards impacted with some trees.

Apparently satisfied Naruto drew three new cards and spread them out. Smiling contentedly, the Uzumaki rummaged around in his pouch for a while.

_Three queens. That makes a full house, nice!_

**It would be better if you would use that ungodly luck of yours in a game of strip poker with some hot girls, instead of playing with yourselves.**

_You know very well I won't do that you overstuffed teddybear!_

**Sometimes I really wonder about your sexual preference. My guess is you literally just don't have the balls. Hahahahaha**

Leaving the fox to howl at his joke, Naruto finally found what he was looking for and dropped a pair of dice. By now the entire team from Konoha was ready for battle. The jounin and his clone were already in some taijutsu stance, the girl with buns had armed herself and the Hyuuga was still, rather stoical, standing there with his arms crossed.

As his dice made place for eight clones, Naruto quickly formed the appropriate seal for henge. Concentrating in making his clothes as black as the night he channeled chakra into his system.

"Henge." Emerging from the smoke cloud in black, Naruto gave the necessary orders to his 'men'.

"Four of you up in the trees, give me cover. Two of you, stick with me, take as many down as you can." Turning to the last clone, Naruto solemnly nodded to him. "Your mission is to take out the bandit leader. Stick to the shadows, strike sure, swift and hard." Seeing all his clones knew what to do, Naruto sent them on their way.

TenTen was getting anxious. It was the first time her team would be attacked by bandits. "First time combat?" The question totally caught her off guard. Turning she saw the genin that was travelling with her team, Nakuto or something. Instead of the horrid orange, he was wearing an all black suite that seemed to make him meld into the shadows.

Seeing the girl was close to losing her cool Naruto just smiled reassuringly at her. "Don't worry. Just aim for their legs, keeps them from reaching us." With an almost feral like grin, Naruto raised his hand, waiting for the bandits to charge out of the woodline.

Several seconds later the shinobi tensed as a large mass of men charged out of the woods, swiftly making their way towards the Konoha ninjas. Their strength lay in their numbers as they had little discipline or training.

Without a word, Naruto brought his hand down in a chopping motion, signalling his clones to open fire from their higher vantage points. As a rain of kunai and stars descended on the mob of men, Naruto whipped his full house open and held as one would hold a fan.

Grabbing three more cards which he held in his left hand, Naruto quickly coated the edges of the cards with a strong paralysing poison. Once his preparations were finished, the Kyuubi carrier signalled the remaining two clones to take up flank position and charged forward.

* * *

The battle had descended into an unorganised mass of men, weapons and blood. Of the five original clones, only two remain who dutifully were still raining death upon the bandits. The two guards Naruto had with him had both also been disposed, but Naruto was still up and running.

His charge had slowed the approach of the bandits, making their front rank clap double halting their approach completely. Thus, the bandits were milling about like an anthill, unable to bring order to the chaos of their ranks.

Team Gai were watching with open mouth. Instead of the tough battle they were expecting, the bandits hadn't even reached them.

TenTen watched in awe as the figure of Naruto slid as a shadow from figure to figure. Putting the energetic boy out of his head, the weapon mistress concentrated on picking off the bandits that made their way towards her team.

Dodging a blow that would surely have severed his arm from his torso, Naruto responded with a lightning swipe of his fan that cut the man's throat. Before that blood had even hit the ground, the clone on Naruto's side intercepted a rather lethal sword thrust. Without even looking at his victim, the bloodied blonde sliced the man with his other hand. Within heartbeats the poison found it's way to the brain and the man collapsed.

**Kill, crush, maim, destroy! Kill, crush, maim, destroy! Kill, crush, maim, destroy!**

On the beat of Kyuubi's mantra, Naruto proceeded to dodge, slice, block and kick his way through the mass of bodies.

In the chaos of bodies and noise, a corridor had opened, giving Naruto the chance to engage the bandit leader. Breaking into a sprint Naruto headed for the man. In the ninja's wake, three men collapsed to the floor and two others fell clutching their throats.

He was three steps away from felling the bandit leader when the instinct he developed due to the Mansion kicked. Diving hard to his left, Naruto felt a blade pass mere centimetres over his head, hitting his last clone instead of the blonde himself.

Not waiting for the blade to come again, Naruto used Kawarimi with a nearby sword, getting him away from the dangerous blade. Then, as an afterthought the blonde and thoroughly bloodsoaked ninja turned towards the leader and launched all the cards in his hands at the unfortunate man.

Waiting for the satisfying thud of the body hitting the ground, Naruto then quickly and silently made his escape, like a ninja after an assissantion. Sighing silently, the newly instated Konoha ninja observed the remaining bandits that were fleeing after the death of their leader.

* * *

Common ninja guidelines state that after a battle or assassination, the first thing a ninja must do is leave the vicinity of the fight. Then tend to his of her wounds and then start asking questions.

Naruto was never really known for his patience nor was he often wounded, so it was only after a swift run of seven minutes that Naruto decided it was time to ask some questions. Landing in a soft crouch, the genin turned towards the jounin, Gai.

"Alright, start talking. Those bandits back there were hired swords and wouldn't have attacked us unless they were ordered to do so, so my question is; why would someone want to attack us?" Crossing his arms he glared at the man whose eyebrows resembled large hairy caterpillars.

The man cleared his throat and sheepishly looked around. "Underneath the mission in another mission. We must deliver a trading scroll to the High Lord of Tea Country. A rivalling faction does not wish the trading agreement made as that would result in them losing their monopoly position."

Nodding once, Naruto turned around and went on his way again, but while he jumped onto a tree branch he softly said, "Please share this kind of vital information with me Gai-san. I could've avoided the battle if I knew of the high risk of enemies in this mission." Before Gai could speak again, Naruto jumped to the next branch and headed towards Tea Country. In silence, the five resumed their way.

* * *

That's all folks, I'm busy writing a chapter for Ramen no Jutsu so expect an udate in two weeks or so. Untill then.

Ja ne!


	6. Cloaks, daggers and training

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto 

Summary: Last chapter Naruto set out for Tea Country together with Team Gai. On the road they were attacked by bandits but managed to fight them off.

* * *

Satisfied that their mission was complete, Gai gave his team permission to fall out. "Yosh, with the burning flame of youth you have completed your mission. Now go and enjoy your free time, we leave tomorrow at noon."

Without so much as a glance the Hyuuga turned around and left, Naruto presumed to train. TenTen was torn for a second between the rest of her team or following the silent Hyuuga. With a small nod towards the blonde ninja she turned around and hurried after the Hyuuga.

**People should give that stuck-up Hyuuga the personality award of the year if you ask me.**

_Or take a photograph of him dressed in a teddybear pyjama, and put posters of him all over Konoha._

Still snickering the Kyuubi vessel also left, not wanting to be alone with those freaky guys. Glancing around, just to make sure he wasn't followed or anybody was watching him, Naruto briefly formed a seal and the blonde disappeared in a small cloud of smoke only to emerge from it as an old man with a gnarled walking stick.

Hobbling up the street, Naruto made one last glance around him before he ducked into an old rickety herb shop. A shrill bell sounded somewhat muffled when he opened the door, and dimly he heard someone screech "Coming! Feel free to look around."

Doing just that, Naruto almost missed an old woman with greying hair enter the shop through the curtain that was hanging behind the counter. Choosing some herbs that, mixed properly, would make a powerful sleeping solution without taste or colour afterwards.

"I'll be wanting these. It's kind of funny you know? I expected Tea Country to have much more teahouses but I could only find five." Inwardly Naruto smiled when he couldn't detect if the old woman had recognised the password or not. With a firm voice the belayed her appearance she replied, "Most teahouses move to other countries, they can get better prices there."

"Do you enjoy the tea they make here?" The question was asked innocently but the answer would make all the difference for Naruto.

The old lady smiled a shark-like grin and replied, "I like sake." And with that the old woman closed down the shop and motioned Naruto to follow her through the curtain.

Taking a seat on a chair that must be as old as the woman, Naruto waited until the woman had prepared some tea and was seated. Whilst gratefully accepting the steaming cup, Naruto observed the room they were in. Except for a table, three rickety chairs and a small kitchen it was bare. Concluding she must sleep above the shop, Naruto focussed on the woman again, who was watching him like a hawk.

"Maranna-sama, I have been ordered to expand our humble network. You know just as well as I do that promising teahouses are sent to all different countries. I need your considerable knowledge on which owner to approach."

Letting the old woman think, Naruto drained his tea and patiently waited. After a minute or so, Maranna spoke up. "Jinobi is a good lad, honest but in need of some starting money. He has the skills."

Nodding and committing the name to memory and waited for the old woman to speak up again.

"Then there is Tatsuo of course" a scowl flashed across her face as she spoke his name. "He has heavy debts and that could be your way in, but I wouldn't approach him personally. He is not reliable enough for that, but you could use him for a while."

Seeing the old woman was out of names, Naruto stood up and bowed. Silently accepting an weathered scroll on cooking recipes Maranna pushed his way, Naruto swiftly left the herb shop behind him.

His mind was racing. He would approach Jinobi personally, in disguise of course but send one of his street urchin contacts to talk to Tatsuo. Absentmindedly playing with the scroll he had received. It was in code of course and instead of cooking recipes it was a detailed report on the suspicious movements of certain mercenary groups and shinobi in Tea Country.

After releasing his disguise in an alley, Naruto headed for the inn to get some sleep and then contact his informants.

* * *

Dismissing an all-jounin team to take care of a rather nasty A-ranked mission, Sarutobi was quite unaware when a black raven flew in through the open window and stole his pipe. To stupefied to move, the Third Hokage watched in wonder as the raven was enveloped in a smoke cloud and a grinning Uzumaki Naruto emerged.

"Not bad eh, old man. It's some kind of an advanced henge form that Jiraiya taught me. After a stern look from Sarutobi a chuckling Naruto handed the pipe back, together with a bunch of small notes.

Seeing the questioning glance, Naruto explained. "Those are the additional information you'll have to provided some teams. Minor occurrences that is just nice to know for the squad leader." Pausing to rummage around in one of his pockets, Naruto withdrew a sealed scroll. "This one is for your eyes only, this scroll contains the teams that will be requiring back-up."

Sighing Naruto took a seat. "I haven't managed to place eyes and ears in a hidden village yet, but if you'll give me a month I might be able."

Nodding, Sarutobi opened the scroll and took a look at the teams. Impressed with what Naruto had managed to do in a short two weeks, the Hokage made his decision. "Well done, I'm giving you a week off from your duties." Raising his hand to stall the protests, he continued. "Use this time to train and perhaps take a few missions with some genin, get to know them."

Seeing that protesting would be futile, Naruto simply bowed and left as he had entered.

* * *

As was their tradition, the four jounins came together at the end of the week to exchange training methods, and of course gossip. In the jounin lounge they boast about their students or just lounge.

At the moment, Gai and Kakashi were in one of their stupid games, while Asuma and Kurenai were discussing the finer points of throwing a twelve-starred throwing star. It wasn't until a grumpy Anko entered that Gai stopped talking because everybody knew that a grumpy Anko was a deadly Anko.

Shortly after the snake-specialist had taken her seat, a smirking Ibiki entered. Ignoring the death glare Anko sent him, the head of interrogation also took his seat.

The silence lasted until Kurenai was too curious and asked what was wrong. It was a smirking Ibiki that answered her. "Our esteemed Hokage was right, and Anko was wrong." Seeing the questioning look in everybody's eyes, the special jounin sighed softly and explained.

"Anko and her team were sent to pick up a man that wished to be escorted. However, before they left Sarutobi-sama declared the mission to be a trap and handed in over to the ANBU. Of course Anko didn't like this at all and loudly complained. I believe she used the words 'Pipe-loving monkeyface' and 'spineless banana eater'."

Chuckling softly, Ibiki lapsed into silence. "And?" Gai asked, rather curious.

"The information was correct." Ibiki deadpanned. Nodding slightly, Kurenai also spoke up. "Now that you mention it, I heard of a chuunin squad that was reinforced the other day because the area they were going through had a high chance of enemy encounter. The information was correct."

"Seems like Jiraiya's been busy with expanding his network." Kakashi concluded. Accepting that as a valid explanation the jounins lapsed into silence, all with different thoughts.

"Gai, how was that C-ranked mission you went on?" A curious Asuma asked. The self-proclaimed Green Beast of Konoha came out of his thoughts. "Everything went fine, save for an ambush of mercenary bandits."

Kakashi raised an eyebrow, asking his question through his mask. "So your team got some field experience, how did they perform." The fact that Gai hesitated with answering drew everybody's attention. "Well, the bandits never really reached us." Seeing everybody's questioning faces, even that of Kakashi, the jounin continued. "The new guy, Naruto used Kage Bunshin and held them off."

Knowing that his fellow shinobi's would not be satisfied with such a short explanation, Gai launched into a blow-by-blow account of the fight.

* * *

Naruto cursed. Somewhere, somebody was talking about him, causing him to sneeze once every ten seconds. Normally this wouldn't be very bad, but in this exceptional case it was. Cursing again, Naruto thought back to how he had gotten himself into this sticky mess.

_FLASHBACK_

_Naruto was about to head out to Ichiruka to grab some lunch when with an ominous creak, one of the previously sealed doors opened. After a brief internal debate the Uzumaki chose to explore._

_He found an empty corridor that was lighted by eerily glowing orbs. Taking a few steps into the corridor, Naruto was unpleasantly surprised when the door suddenly slammed shut._

_After a few tries, the ninja came to a conclusion; he was stuck._

"_Well, seems like I can only go forward." _

_**No really, whatever gave you that luminous idea?** Came the unwanted and sarcastic reply from the Kyuubi._

_Just as Naruto was about to make a scathing reply, his practised eye spotted the soft glint of a tripwire reflecting light. Instantly he froze._

_Moving as little as possible the Kyuubi vessel examined his surroundings. Now that he was looking for them he spotted a multitude of traps all the way down the corridor._

_Pit traps, fire traps, prank traps, traps triggering jutsus, log traps, shuriken launching traps, funny traps, deadly traps, pathetic traps. He had encountered them all. And he was only half way the corridor._

_END FLASHBACK_

At the moment he was disabling a trap that, if triggered, would singe his eyebrows right off. The fact that he had a sneezing fit wasn't exactly a gift from above. Handling volatile liquids while not in complete control of your body's reflexes wasn't something one should try at home.

"Well, at least I managed to brush up my trap disabling skills." Naruto mumbled out loud as he disabled a complicated pit trap. "At least it can't get any worse than this."

**Oh no. Don't tell you just said what I think you did.**

The slightly apprehensive tone of the Kyuubi made Naruto reply.

_What are you talking about?_

**Listen Gaki, I'm Kyuubi. A freakin' demon. I fear nothing and nobody, I'm almighty but even _I_ don't say what you just said.**

_Why not?_

**Because when you say that something _always_ goes wrong.**

Ignoring what the crazy fox was mumbling about Naruto turned to the next trap with an audible sigh. He was allowed a minute of tedious work when Kyuubi interrupted his concentration again.

**I told you so. Hehehe, you're in for it now Brat.**

More alarmed by the glee in the demon's voice than what it was saying, Naruto looked around him. Roughly around the same time, a sound reached his ears that made his eyes widen slightly in alarm. It was the sound of metal spikes shooting out of their sheaths.

Swivelling around Naruto, at the very beginning of the corridor, something that made cold sweat break out. Metal spikes were protruding from odd and impossible angles all around the entrance door. Anybody standing there would have been skewered, there was no way to dodge being shish-kebabed as the spikes came from all sides.

What made the situation a real situation was the fact that the deadly wall of metal was slowly moving towards the Uzumaki was standing.

Naruto was trapped in a trap riddled corridor with inevitable death slowly gaining on him. Squashing the urge run around in circles screaming his head off in panic, the blond ninja did the only thing his upbringing and current jop allowed him to do; he doubled his efforts to clear the traps.

_Kuso! Alright, think Naruto. Options…Clones are out of the question, the corridor is too narrow. Any offensive jutsu will just trigger the traps and that's something I want to avoid. Kawarimi? With what? Kuso!_

**I told you so. **The smug tone of the Kyuubi interrupted Naruto's train of thoughts.

_Shut up Furball, I'm trying to save our hides here._ A swift glance told him that the spikes were seven meters away from him and every three seconds they would gain one meter on him.

Glancing ahead, towards the end of the corridor of death as he had mentally labelled it, Naruto saw that he had twelve more meters too go.

_Time, I need more time._

Nimble fingers diffused a smoke bomb. Next trap.

_Why am I doing this? What is the use._

Mechanically he cut the wire that connected the pressure plate to the jutsu paper. Next.

_Think!_

Next trap.

_The first thing I learned was not to let my guard down._

Glance. Five meters to go, three behind him.

_Then this is a lesson as well._

Pouring some chakra into a complicated trap countered the burst of water that would otherwise erupt.

_This is an obstacle course…with pressure. Time pressure._

Glance again. Three meters and only one meter left.

_That's it! It's an obstacle course on speed. RUN!_

* * *

Sarutobi was puffing contently on his pipe, the old man deemed that he had worked hard enough to have a small break now. His break however was rudely shattered when a grumpy Naruto opened the door and slammed it shut.

"What happened to you?" The Hokage asked. The Genin in front of him was covered scorch marks, cuts, and his clothes seemed to be hopelessly torn.

"I was training" came the grumpy reply. A raised eyebrow sent his way prompted Naruto to elaborate. "It was an obstacle race where I had to use speed to outrun the obstacles. As you can see, these particular obstacles were rather lethal."

Absorbing the information Sarutobi suddenly remembered the improved Henge Naruto had shown him. "Couldn't you have just transformed into a raven and flown over the course.?"

Grinning ruefully Naruto shook his head. "Improved Henge is a useful skill but the form takes a long time too learn, which means that it isn't a very useful skill for improvisation. And besides, cheating would have ruined the effect of training. And an Uzumaki never cheats."

Ending with a smile, Naruto suddenly remembered where he was and why he had visited the Hokage. "However much I like training, I believe that a mission is less lethal for my health and my clothes. So, old man, give me a mission." With a comic grin on his face, Naruto nursed some of his wounds to emphasise his point.

Ignoring the playful jab Naruto had sent his way, Sarutobi checked his mission roster. "Genin Uzumaki, here is your mission." Using his best 'Hokage' voice, the Professor handed Naruto his mission.

Playing along, the blond mock saluted, quickly read the mission and set out to find the team.

_We're going on a mission Kyuubi_

**Really? Your ability to state the obvious has me completely baffled.**

_That would mean that you'd actually shut up for once._

**I'll let you know that us demons are extremely intelligent and completely superior to you humans.**

Continuing the mental 'debate', Naruto quicklytook to the roof and bounded away to meet the team.

* * *

And that's it people. I had intended to write some more but somehow it turned out this way, I'm not complaining.

I'd like to thank everybody for their reviews which spurred me to write faster than usual :) So arigato!

Wolfkun: Of course it's normal that Kyuubi is your favourite character grins I like to make him as sarcastic as possible.  
DeathAngel-Lavenda: You raised a good question. I haven't yet decided on pairings, but I'm open to suggestions, the girl with the most 'suggestions' might be paired up with Naruto.


	7. Scheming politics all around

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

AN: Sorry for the delay. Being in my final year of high school, things can get pretty hectic. I'll try and update more often from now on.

* * *

"Ejiko grinned. And it wasn't a pretty sight. The grin itself was your average bad-guy grin, but what really made the difference were the eyes. Ejiko's eyes glinted with a madness that seemingly consumed him. His brown eyes were glazed and bloodshot, adding to his insane appearance. Of course, the old blood stains on his jacket, now a rusty brown colour, did nothing to counter claims of his insanity. His hitai-ate was unmarked but brown stains, highly likely to be blood, all in all made him a figure that Anko Mitarashi would hang a poster of above her bed. 

The reason why Ejiko was grinning was a simple one; it would be raining blood today. If one might think that this unhealthy obsession with blood had some logical explanation, think again. Ejiko murdered for the fun of it, and preferred to make it as bloody as possible.

It should be noted that, although Ejiko looked like an insane cold-hearted killer, he could not laugh in the menacing ways that Orochimaru or other truly psychotic madmen can. The lack of ability to evilly cackle is one of Ejiko's larger points of frustration. Other than that, he hated soap, water or stain-removals as it robbed him of his intimidating and morbid looking blood stains.

Ejiko's preferred method of killing people is at night, when they are sleeping soundly. He will sneak up to them as close as possible and then wake you by prodding you with his very sharp sword. The wound will be deep enough to bleed heavily but not deep enough to kill. He will keep you from healing yourself but will not wound you any further. You will slowly bleed to death, every second of it, every breath you take will be sheer agony. And through it all, you will see _his _grin. The grin of Ejiko. He is therefore also known as, the Grinning Ninja.

Once he has set his eyes upon you, there is no escaping. You _will_ die, and the last thing you will ever see is that horrible grin."

Silence reigned as a smirking Naruto finished his horror story. He had managed to enrapture his audience and they had been hanging on every word he said. Throwing another log on the camp fire, Naruto broke the spell that had seemed to freeze his fellow shinobi.

Asuma took a drag from his smoke, whilst Shikamaru half-audibly mumbled about troublesome stories. Chouji fidgeted slightly as he observed his surroundings, still spooked by the story. Ino, however remained uncharastically silent. When she finally spoke, Naruto could tell it was with a false bravado. "That was quite a good story."

Naruto grinned, and the firelight played shadows across his face, making him look threatening. When he spoke it was with a deadly whisper. "Who said it was a story?"

Naruto inwardly laughed as Chouji nearly yelped out loud, Ino audibly gulped and Shikamaru visibly tensed. He couldn't help but feel deeply amused by their nervous behaviour. "I'll take first watch." He said, leaving a spooked Team 6 behind.

It took him several minutes to cover the perimeter of the camp with trip wire and all kinds of other nasty surprises. His years spent without chakra had taught him many unorthodox yet handy skills. One such was the art of trapmaking.

**Remind me again, _why_ exactly we are here? We're wasting time by not training. **Growled the Kyuubi.

Although the tone of the sealed demon was the same as always, the lack of insults implied that the Kyuubi was dead-serious.

Sighing slightly, Naruto finished the last trigger to his more elaborate trap and mentally sent to the Kyuubi, _Hold on. I'm coming in to talk to you._

They only did this when they had to make difficult decisions that could be detrimental to both their healths, if Naruto came to talk to Kyuubi it signified that the situation was serious and a mistake could have grave consequences. One such an example was whether or not to return to Konoha. Since the Kyuubi would die if Naruto did, and Naruto could gain strength from the Kyuubi, they would co-operate only in the direst of times and ignore each other after that. It was a deal that both participants were highly satisfied with. It was rare for both to co-operate but it was preferable over death.

Making a quick perimeter jutsu that would warn him if anybody approached him, Naruto quickly went through the necessary seals to come face to face with the Kyuubi.

Overcoming the usual bout of vertigo that he got every time he did this, Naruto turned around. He was inside his mind and in front of the cage the held the fearsome Kyuubi. The gloomy surrounding did not bother the young shinobi in the least. Kyuubi was already watching him from behind the unbreakable bars that held him prisoner.

**So Kit, explain to me why we are on this mission instead of training at the Mansion. And don't give me this crap about needing a mission, that was just plain nonsense.**

Although he would never admit it, Naruto appreciated the way the Youkai always directly got to the point. Making himself comfortable on a squishy chair his mindscape had provided for him, Naruto formulated the best way to explain the situation to the demon in front of him.

"The reason is politics Kyuubi. And it's not surprising that you don't quite grasp that delicate art, after all, demons have no need of subtlety." Naruto mused out loud. After a brief nod of the Nine-tailed fox, Naruto resumed his explanation.

"The power of Konoha lies between the Hokage and the Council of Elders, most of the time shortened to the Council. The Council and the Hokage are supposed to balance each other out, making it impossible for a corrupt Hokage or Council to have limitless control over Konoha."

**Hmmm, I where I come from we have the same. The Clan of Foxes are led by me, but I also have the leading foxes of other clans as a council. But I fail to entirely see where this is going.**

"I'm getting to that, now about the Council. To pass new laws, declare ninjas as missing-nins and all other forms of policy, the Council must have a majority of three-quarters in order to overrule the Hokage's rules or policies. Since there are many factions within the Council, each with their own agenda and priorities, not to mention vassals or indebted friends, it is a constant shifting political battlefield."

Pausing again to let the Kyuubi in front of him properly assimilate the information he had just told, Naruto focussed on creating a large shogi board in front of him. Seeing expectant red eyes gazing back at him, Naruto nodded once firmly and continued his story.

"So one the one hand we have the Hokage. He's old and therefore not as influential to the Council as he used to be, but influential none the less." At one end of the board a figure in Hokage attire appeared.

"On the other hand, we have the Council with its many Clan Elders; the Hyuuga, Aburame, Uchiha and Uzumaki. And to a lesser degree, the Clan Heads; Haruno, Inuzuka, Nara, Hatake, Yamanaka, Yuuhi and plenty others." On the other end of the board, opposite the Hokage came a figurine with many heads and the crests of the clans Naruto mentioned.

**Wait a sec Kit. What's the difference between Clan Elders and Clan Heads?**

"In short, the Clan Elders are the original clans that helped found Konoha. The other, Clan Heads, are less prestigious, carry less influence and are considered inferior by those of the founding clans."

**I see, carry on with your interesting explanation.**

"Right. So the Council is mostly divided and only on few occasions do they all agree on the same subject and overthrow earlier policy set by the Hokage. One such occasion was the massacre of the Uchiha and subsequent branding of Uchiha Itachi as S-class missing nin. And another…"

**Was my imprisonment in your body.**

"Exactly." A small Naruto-like figureappeared in between the Council and the Hokage. "The Council all rallied around the Hyuuga, who wished to see my, and by extension you, killed in cold blood. The Hokage realised that he would be unable to save me and thus, in an ingenious way, solved the problem. He sent me out of the village with Jiraiya."

**I see. Because you were not in the village anymore the Council held no authority over you and because you were not a ninja yet, they could not brand you a missing-nin and send the hunter-nins after you. Not a bad solution.**

"Indeed. Yet he might have only delayed the problem. I returned to Konoha, and now Sarutobi is duty bound to inform the Council of my return."

**And you are afraid that they will kill you?**

"No, that will not happen."

**Why not**, **what is difference between now and twelve years ago?**

Grinning wryly, Naruto added a spiral to the Naruto on the board. "Exactly what you said Kyuubi. Twelve years. I am considered old enough to take over from my father as Clan Elder of the Uzumaki. With that political power behind me, the Council will not dare attack me directly.

**So we are safe?**

Sighing, Naruto added a large crowd of villagers, which surrounded the Naruto figure. "Far from it. I fear that it is only a matter of time before the Council gathers enough support to directly, politically that is, challenge me. And when that happens, I'll either be exiled or dead. And lets not forget the villagers. I highly doubt they will have forgotten about your attack, and many still carry that resentment in their hearts. No doubt they will direct it at me as they have no one else to blame."

**That still doesn't explain why we're out here?**

"Three hours before we left, Sarutobi informed the Council of my return and of my status. My guess is that within two hours of our departure, almost the entire village knew that the 'Demon-child' had returned and who it was. I felt it would be better if I was not around for so that they could get used to the idea."

**So when we come back, everybody is just going to hate you and we're going to get treated like shit? **Kyuubi's growl was indignant.

"That pretty much sums it up."

The fox growled angrily and agitatedly started to prowl around in his cave. **So why not leave this stinking flee-infested cesspool of hatred and close-mindednes?**

Smiling sadly, Naruto stared at the board. "Because I can't keep running for ever, I've got to face this problem or I'll never do it. And I would also like to get to know the Konoha that my Father gave his life for."

**I'll accept your decision, although I think it would be just easier to back, leave and never come back.** At this, Naruto nodded, his eyes never leaving the board.

**So, what are you going to do about it? What's your plan of action?**

The sad smile turned into a fox-like grin as the blond shinobi starting to lay out his plans. "The first and most obvious thing to do, is lay low. Here's the deal; the Council is going to do anything within their power to kill us, so we're going to fight back. That means disrupting communication and pranks all-around. Another thing I want to do is get to know the younger generation better, see if they can withstand their parents' influence. But the most important thing I want to do, is restart our mingling of chakras." Ignoring the rather loud and extremely out of character whoop the Demon Fox emitted, Naruto continued to map out his plans.

* * *

Asuma Sarutobi was not someone who tended to overly mother the Genin under his command. His style of teaching was more one of passive role-model. If one of his charges had a problem, he would let them try to take care of it and only help when the situation was obviously too much for the Genin to handle. Some would say that he was just being lazy and was not acting like a Jounin-sensei should. Others wouldn't. One way or another, Asuma did not care very much, as long as his team was performing to the best of their abilities. 

But something was bothering the chain-smoker. And that something happened to be the Genin that had been added to his team, Uzumaki Naruto. He had manage to unnerve his team from the moment he showed up for their mission.

_FLASHBACK_

_Ino scowled as she impatiently waited for her good for nothing sensei to give the green light for their mission. The mission was not overly exciting, they had to aid the ceremonial guard of some monastery while the monastery presented the new spiritual leader, their presence added more prestige to the entire thing. _

"_My apologies if I'm late, I was slightly delayed." Ino whirled around to give the late Genin a tongue-lashing he wouldn't quick forget when she caught sight of his battered appearance. Before the irate blonde could formulate a suitable insult, Asuma spoke up._

"_What delayed you, a battlefield?" He asked, slightly curious. A non-committal shrug was his only reply. Figuring he probably wouldn't get a real answer, the bearded Jounin introduced his team. "This is my team, consisting of"_

"_Yamanaka Ino, Nara Shikamaru and Akimichi Chouji. We met." Naruto cut in. With a small nod to the other Genin, he walked towards the gate, not waiting to see if the others were following him. Shrugging to himself, and ignoring a "how troublesome" from Shikamaru, Asuma motioned his team to follow the brightly dressed blond._

_END FLASHBACK_

That was all the blond had said to his team, and it wasn't until they had set up camp and Ino had tried to tell a ghost story to spook her fellow Genin that Naruto had spoken. The story had been told so masterful that even he, a Jounin, had trouble to discern is the story was fiction or fact. Quickly dismissing the unpleasant images that popped into his head after the rather colourful description the Uzumaki had given, Asuma decided he should have a small chat with the blond.

Heading towards he guessed the Genin to be, it wasn't long until Asuma came across some truly ingenious and utterly wicked traps. What surprised him even more was perimeter jutsu the bearded Jounin came upon. He broke the perimeter, thus alerting the creator to his approach, and continued onwards.

In his mindscape, Naruto looked up as he felt his perimeter being breached. Taking a last look at the board, which had now been cluttered with all kinds of figures and other half-schemed plots, he then flew through the seals to regain conscious. "Oi, Kyuubi. Give me a call when you're ready to proceed to the second stage."

**You got it.** And just as Naruto felt himself being pulled towards conscious the Kyuubi growled at him, **And stay away this time, you ignorant little brat. **_Same here furball._ Naruto smiled, he and the Fox were down to their usual business, the problem had been solved.

Popping into the small clearing that Naruto currently was sitting in, Asuma took a moment to take a good look at the boy. His bright clothes, blinding orange, and bright, blond hair didn't give him the look of a ninja. Yet something in the way he moved, told the blonde's true colours. This boy could be dangerous when he wished to be so. He was a tightly wound coil, ready to explode at the right time.

"You can come out from behind the tree." Not surprised he had been spotted, Asuma took a seat of a patch of soft moss opposite of Naruto. "Smoke?" he offered.

"No thanks." Naruto declined with a small smile. Settling back, the Kyuubi carrier waited until the Sarutobi was comfortable. "So what brings you here?"

"You" Seeing the raised eyebrow Naruto sent his way, Asuma elaborated. "You seem to have spooked my team. Not only that but your presence is driving a wedge in their teamwork. Ino spent the entire trip fuming at you because you're ignoring her and was late. Because she doesn't know you she can't vent that anger at your and instead takes it out on Shikamaru and Chouji. Both boys, although used to such outbursts, don't appreciate the fact that they're receiving a tongue-lashing because you're not talking to Ino. In short, your presence has dropped morale and teamwork."

"Hold on, I can understand that the guys are irritated at me because they're on the receiving end of something they don't deserve, but why does Ino get so irritated that I ignore her?" A bewildered Naruto asked.

Chuckling, Asuma lit his cigarette and contently puffed away on it. "You may be a good ninja Naruto, but you don't understand people, or women for that matter, very well do you?"

Shrugging helplessly, Naruto rolled onto his back, looking at the stars. "As a kid I didn't have much interaction with other kids my age. It didn't help that we moved around a lot. Understanding girls just didn't come with the package, I suppose."

"The I'll explain Ino to you. Despite her loudmouth, she's actually a tad insecure about her abilities and her team. So one day this mysterious Genin shows up, battered and bloodied, and doesn't even throw a glance her way."

An expression of understanding dawned on Naruto's face. "So that's the reason she is so cranky?" "No. The reason I mentioned greatly contributes to her anger, but there are always more reasons. A person is more complex than the most complex trap ever made. There will always be something underneath the underneath."

Pondering the new wisdom he had received, Naruto stood and brushed some dirt of his pants. "So what do you think I should do to improve my standing with your team?"

Asuma pondered briefly on what kind of advice he could best give. "I would suggest you talk with Ino, get to know her a bit better. As for Shikamaru, perhaps play some shogi with him. As for Chouji, treat him to a bowl of ramen or something that is equally cheap. You go and sleep now, I'll take guard."

Nodding once, Naruto headed towards the camp, pondering the advice Asuma had given him.

* * *

Shikamaru was doing what he did best; being lazy. He had perfected the art up to a level that he could feign sleeping if he wished so, and right now that was what the lazy shadow-user was doing. After fifteen minutes or so he could no longer smell the cigar smoke or sense his sensei's chakra. "He's gone." 

Soon after the statement, the forms of Ino and Chouji also started to move. "Shika, so what do you think?", Ino asked in an uncharacteristically soft voice.

Knowing what his teammate was talking about, the Nara furrowed his eyebrows slightly before answering. "His name is Uzumaki Naruto. His status is Genin. Prior to his shinobi career he was a merchant that easily interacted with missing-nins. Despite the fact that he cannot mold any chakra, he is proficient enough in the shinobi arts."

Shikamaru paused for a moment to mull over his latest observations, as his hands drifted into his special thinking position. "Despite his somewhat bubbly first impression, it seems as if not used to being around people for along period of time. His lack of communication skills indicate that. Also, I observed that one several occasions Uzumaki Naruto did not truly know how to respond as fart as social interaction is concerned."

Awed by his best friends observation skills, Chouji absentmindedly munched on another handful of his beloved chips. Speaking through a mouth filled with food he asked, "So what can we do about it Shika?"

Wincing slightly at the shortened version of his name, the lazy genius sighed. "I don't know Chouji, I really don't know."

* * *

For once, Ejiko was not grinning. Somewhere, far away, someone was talking about him. A massive and rather violent sneezing fit had alerted him to that fact. Grumbling unhappily under his breath, the ninja decided he would try out that instant blood-stains kit a blond merchant had sold him some time ago.

* * *

In Konoha, Haruno Sakura was slightly depressed. Her beloved Sasuke-kun had once again declined to have dinner with her. The pink-haired Kunoichi knew that her crush would realise that he loved her if she persisted long enough. Thankfully for her, their other teammate seemed oblivious to the Uchiha's manly charms (author gags). They way his eyes flashed when he was fighting, made Sakura swoon. The only downside to spending as much time as possible around her crush was that she had to train. Because it made her hair dirty and spoiled her appearance, Sakura tried to do as much as possible during training. 

Opening the gates that led to the Haruno household, Sakura failed to notice a duo of Hyuuga Branch Members standing guard in the shadows.

"Mother, I'm home." Sakura yelled as she shed her shoes and opened the door of her mother's private chambers. Inside she found her mother in formal attire and a stoic man, also in formal robes, without pupils for eyes. Realising that she had walked into a discussion between Clan leaders, Sakura formally bowed. "Haruno-sama, Hyuuga-sama. Excuse my interruption. I will take my leave."

As Sakura closed the door behind her, Hiashi relaxed into his seat. "You have raised you daughter well. At least she knows her etiquette."

Accepting the compliment, the Haruno matriarch decided the time for small talk was over. "So the fox is back in town. What are we going to do about it?"

If Hiashi wasn't a Hyuuga his eye would have widened slightly at the boldness of the woman in front of him. While she didn't directly violate the law laid down by the Third, she had come very close and people had been known to be punished for less. Nothing of this showed on his face as age old Hyuuga training kicked in.

Folding his hands in front of him, he absentmindedly noted how the eyes of the woman in front of him still displayed a glint of hatred against the Kyuubi. "I think the first and most effective step we can make is to simply spread the word. It will not take long for the village to find out, and perhaps we can hasten the process."

"I agree, but that is not why I have called you here." Seeing the questioning look in Hiashi's eyes, the Haruno matriarch continued. "I wish to evict the boy from Konoha and banish him for life."

Even with all his Hyuuga training, Hiashi could not prevent himself from inhaling sharply. A banishment for life was not something done very often, and was a punishment mostly reserved for disgraces and other sort of people a Hyuuga would never be seen with. Nothing was more shameful than being banished. It was different when a person chose to do so, becoming a missing-nin, but being cast out was such a great shame that many would rather die then face such a fate.

"An admirable plan, but I'm afraid it would fail as you lack the necessary support to rally enough votes. And as much as the other member of the Council despise the boy, even for them banishment will be a step too far. And perhaps, a step too indirect." Hiashi knew very well that the shrewd woman in front of him knew that as well, but he was now in full political mode. The Haruno had stated her goal and now the bartering and negotiating would begin.

"Hmmm, but if the Hyuuga would pledge their support to the cause, I'm sure many would swiftly follow Hiashi-kun." The pink-haired Clan Head stated as she subtly shifted her kimono to show some more skin.

Inwardly, Hiashi smirked. It was always amusing to see how other important people would grovel at his feet to gain his support, and seeing a woman of such a high status lower herself to seduction formed a large source of amusement to him. Outwardly however, he frowned slightly. In an icy voice he said, "You presume that the Hyuuga are at your beck and call?" His words had the desired effect as the woman in front of him momentarily had a panicked look in her eyes before she managed to replace it with a neutral one.

The Haruno matriarch felt like cursing, she could have guessed that Hyuuga Hiashi would not have fallen for her seduction attempt. She briefly toyed with the idea to up the scales before dropping that line of thought. No, seduction would not help her here. "How about this. You help me now, and I help you later."

If anything, the Hyuuga leader seemed to resemble an iceberg even more. "And what would the Hyuuga need your support with?"

Haruno replied quickly before lest the inflame Hiashi even more. "With the young Uchiha. He is the last of his kind, and wields a powerful weapon; the Sharingan. That is why many Clans prey on him. When he will reach an eligible age he will be forced to marry into a clan in order to preserve his bloodline limit. If you support me now, I will support the Hyuuga when the time is there."

Hiashi certainly thought this to be a fair trade, but he knew that agreeing immediately would be a sigh of weakness. And so the two Clan Leaders negotiated and bartered into the night. After five hours of negotiating, the deal had been struck. The Hyuuga would support the call to banish the Kyuubi vessel, Uzumaki Naruto. In turn, the Haruno would support the claim the Hyuuga would lay on Uchiha Sasuke.

* * *

And that's it. I originally wanted to write a tad bit more but figured you guys would like to see me update (and truth be told, I wanted to chapter posted). I deeply apologise for the long wait. I hope you enjoy this chapter and I'll try to update soon, can't really promise anything, but I'll try my damned best! 

**neosildrake, kittypur714:** I hadn't really given the idea much thought, but I think a prequel wouldn't be a very bad idea.

**All other reviewers:** Thank you very, very much for your great reviews.

And please keep any suggestion (on the story or pairings), comments or typos coming. They are all appreaciated. And I'm very curious what y'all think of this chapter

Ja ne!


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